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2012 German Grand Prix
The 2012 German Grand Prix is the tenth race of the 2012 Formula One Season, due to take place on July 22. It will be the 59th running of the German Grand Prix as a round of the Formula One World Championship. In line with the FIA's intention to alternate the event, the 2012 race will be held at the Hockenheimring, having been held at the Nürburgring circuit in 2011. It will be the 33rd time the race has been held at Hockenheim, and the 8th staging on the current layout of the circuit. Background The Drag Reduction System is being used for the first time on the Hockenheimring. The DRS detection zone is at turn 4, with the activation zone located 260 metres later. This allows the cars to speed down the Parabolika into the Hairpin. No grid penalties were issued after the for the German Grand Prix. However, both Romain Grosjean and Nico Rosberg will receive five-place grid penalties for gearbox changes. Grosjean's gearbox was changed after his team noticed a terminal issue with it. Mark Webber's gearbox was changed on Friday night, and as a result, he will also drop five places. In the Drivers' Championship, Fernando Alonso's lead was reduced just thirteen points after Mark Webber won with Alonso behind. Sebastian Vettel moved up to third, ahead of Lewis Hamilton. As for the Constructors' Championship, increased their lead to 64 points. Second was now , after their strongest showing since the 2010 Singapore Grand Prix. stayed in third place, with falling to fourth place. Practice Overview FP1 The test driver changes in FP1 saw Jules Bianchi replace Paul di Resta at , Valtteri Bottas replace Bruno Senna at , and Dani Clos replace Narain Karthikeyan at . Jenson Button set the fasstest time in a 1-2 in Free Practice 1. The session was plagued by rain, and as a results time were not ideal. Button set his time of 1:16.695 just 25 minutes into the session. Many drivers lost control of their car or went off track in the damp conditions, including Heikki Kovalainen, Pastor Maldonado, one of the drivers, Jean-Éric Vergne, Lewis Hamilton and British GP winner Mark Webber. Then, near the end of the session, Bottas lost the rear end at turn 13 and hit the barriers. FP2 It started out wet, and only Bruno Senna ventured out in the fifteen minutes, but he came straight back in. At about fifteen minutes in, Jean-Éric Vergne headed out, on the full wet tyre. Not too much happened in the session, as the track dryed out. Nico Rosberg showed that the track was suitable for intermediates, but with 25 minutes left, the rain began again. Pastor Maldonado set the quickest time before the track became too wet. There was action, with Vergne, Sergio Pérez and Sebastian Vettel losing control early on, and Lewis Hamilton went wide at the hairpin later on. With ten minutes to go, Daniel Ricciardo went off at turn 13, but only beached into the gravel and his car suffered no damage. Then, with five minutes left, Michael Schumacher had a big accident at turn 12, seriously damaging the rear end of the car and lightly damaging the front left. The session was red flagged until the end of the session. Maldonado's time survived as the quickest of the session, the driver showing his pace is still there, despite the controversy following his recent collisions and crashes. Second was Nico Rosberg, less than a tenth of a second down. FP3 In an uneventful session, Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets, with time 0.77 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton's team-mate, Jenson Button, came last in the session. Twenty minutes into the session, the engine in Charles Pic's car was changed, due to an air leak. Within twenty minutes, the new engine was in place. At the end of the session, it started raining heavily, effectively ending the 60 minute session a few minutes early. Practice Results Qualifying Race Milestones * Lewis Hamilton's 100th race. * Heikki Kovalainen's 100th entry (99th start). * Kamui Kobayashi's 50th race. * 100th race of the partnership. Notes Category:German Grand Prix Category:2012 Grands Prix